As our nation celebrates Martin Luther King Day, we remember him as a beacon of change. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. helped change America, by exposing the injustice of how blacks were treated. With his strong leadership and unprecedented power of speech he gave people the faith and courage to work peacefully for change to stop racial discrimination and promote equality and opportunity across America.

My colleagues in the Democratic Party and I are seeking to follow his glowing example, working to bring change and a new direction for all Americans. Democrats put forward a ‘Six for ‘06’ agenda for change that addressed critical economic, health care, and educational concerns of ordinary families.

Dr. King believed that the government had a fundamental responsibility to meet the needs of its people. He had the vision of an America with true equal economic opportunity. In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, Dr. King spoke of the ‘fierce urgency of now.’ He said, ‘This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.’ Those words were true in 1963, and they are true today.

In the first 100 hours, this Congress will pass legislation to make the American people safer, make our Congress more honest and open, make our economy fairer, and build a better future for all of America’s children.

We will make America safer by implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission; make our economy fairer by raising the minimum wage; make college more affordable by cutting the interest rates on student loans; improve health care by requiring Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices and promoting stem cell research; and take the first step toward achieving energy independence by repealing subsidies to Big Oil and investing the savings in renewable energy.

While this new direction is critical to all Americans, it will help African American families in this country in particular. These bills in the first 100 hours will bring a pay raise to 2.1 million hard-working African Americans, reduce drug prices for the 3.9 million African American Medicare beneficiaries, and helping the 2.1 million African American students at degree-granting institutions and the many more seeking the opportunity to attend college.

So at this moment, and in Reverend Martin Luther King’s name, let us recommit to this beacon of change and working to bring about opportunity for all Americans. We all must help America fulfill Dr. King’s dream.